Crossroads
by Luxia-san
Summary: Equestria is on the brink of an all-out war with a neighboring empire, Zephlor. As Princess Celestia think of a plan to avoid any conflict, her previously banished sister, Princess Luna, work hard with the Mane Six to raise ponies' morales. It was then when Luna's chance for redemption appeared. But at the same time, it was a confirmation for an eternity of sadness. A crossroad.
1. Chapter 1

_DISCLAIMER:_ _I don't own anything associated with Hasbro's My Little Pony. I only own this story (which I hope you would adore) and my OC._

 **Chapter 1: Didn't mean to**

The moon had been raised and Princess Luna knew that most ponies had already gone to sleep at the first sight of her sky.

"It's beautiful," her sister suddenly said, causing her to jump back. Princess Celestia chuckled, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

Luna blushed slightly at the embarrassment, "You didn't scare me. I was merely…startled…that's all."

Celestia smiled, "Of course."

The younger princess looked up towards her night sky, "Anyway, you have my thanks for complimenting my work. It is greatly appreciated."

"I was only stating what I thought." Celestia said and noticed that her sister's speech had modernized. Seems like Fluttershy and Twilight's lessons on how to speak had helped greatly. It made it easier for Princess Luna to be loved by all. It was heartwrenchly sad whenever she saw the look of disappointment and sadness on her sister's face when the ponies ran away in fright.

Celestia laid her hooves on the balcony's railing and looked at their kingdom below. Tiny dots of light speckled throughout Canterlot, the streetlights and late closing shops' brightness stayed on while the others camouflaged themselves into the darkness one by one. The princess of the Sun reflected on her sister's night. Everything was so quiet, so peaceful… and yet she felt it somewhat terrifying. Who knows just what could be lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect chance to pounce and strike terror into her subjects. There would be screams. Loud, bloodcurdling screams. There would be shouts for help and ponies' hooves flailing around and around and around… until it stops. Everything will stop… Just like what happens at night.

"Celestia?"

She spun around towards the voice and yelled, "NO!"

Worried lines etched immediately on top of Luna's forehead, "Tia, are you alright?"

The older princess was silent and breathing hard as she focused onto the smaller pony before crumpling to the ground, "Oh Lulu, I am so sorry! I-I was actually thinking that… that… your peaceful night is-"

"There is no need to apologize, sister." Luna said in a soft voice and used one of her wings to cover Princess Celestia in a sort of a hug and laid down next to her, "You have every right to doubt me. I made ponies suffer, made _you_ suffer, as Nightmare Moon. As much as I would like to excuse myself that I did not mean to, we both know the truth."

"But-"

"But nothing." The dark-mane princess finished for her and continued, "Besides, I know that your fearful thoughts are fused with your worries of the treaty committee tomorrow. I have seen your dreams." She then frowned, "And speaking of which, should you not be resting for the upcoming day?"

Celestia smiled sheepishly, "Hey, I'm supposed to be the big sister here, not you."

"And I am supposed to be the one that surprises ponies, not you." Luna countered back.

Her sister laughed at the reference of earlier, "Fair enough. C'mon, accompany me to my room, would you?"

"Hold on a minute, Twilight Sparkle told me that the word _c'mon_ is a type of persuasion." The mare asked in confusion, "Where is the logic of adding an interrogative phrase in the same sentence?"

"I'll leave the logic to my faithful student," Princess Celestia's eyes twinkled with small mischief at the hard time of explaining the smart pony would have to do.

"Very well then." Luna said, standing up, "Let us retire for the night. Or in our case, you retire for the night."

Celestia smiled, "Thank you, Lulu. For everything."

"It should be me thanking you, Tia. Truly. For everything."

* * *

 **A/N: Heeellllooooooooo! My first fanfic, so excited! All constructive reviews are welcome!**

 **As English isn't my first language, I apologize for any confusion that my wording may have caused. SORRY! Help me become a better writer? An early TY and a MWUAH on the cheek! PM and reviews are all welcome~! Hope to see your name in my *alert* box, see ya! \\(^o^)/**

 **Ps. Too energetic? XP**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Last one, pony**

Princess Celestia raised the sun with a heavy heart that day. It was the decisive Treaty Committee that took place every one hundred years and the future of Equestria rested on her shoulders. If she made even one mistake, war could break out and her subjects would be in danger.

"You can do this, Celestia." She told herself as she turned away from her balcony and walked slowly out of her room, "You _have_ to do this, for the ponies and all of Equestria. You are a ruler, a princess, and it is a princess's duty to serve. The ponies look up to you for guidance and protection. You cannot fail them, not now and most certainly not ever."

Luna watched silently from the shadow casted by the stairs as her sister came down muttering to herself. The usually calm and collected princess was panicking and Luna felt guilty at being unable to provide any advice or comfort other than the usual, "Do not worry, you will do well." The already empty promise became emptier each time she said it and a comforting hug could only go so far when faced with the possibility of war.

"Why are you hiding there, Luna?" Celestia called out, startling the princess of the night once again, "Is everything okay?"

Luna left the shadows and went to her sister, saying, "It should be me asking that question, Tia. Today is the day of the meeting and you and I both know that there would be disappointments among others. Had you made a choice?"

The alicorn sighed, "I looked over all of the proposals again this morning, Lulu, and most of them seemed alright. Truthfully, the only thing I'm worried about is Zephlor. Theirs are… should I say… very _needy_."

Luna's brow creased together. One thousand years ago, Zephlor was a small kingdom much like the Crystal Kingdom. But now, under the rule of King Osbria who inherited the throne from his peace loving father, King George, it had grown and its greed along with it.

"I wish I could help, Tia. Is there really nothing I can do?" She asked as she looked up ever so hopefully at her sister, "I am willing to do anything and you can make sure that I will do it well."

Celestia smiled, "I know you will but at the moment, your priority is to catch up to this time period as much as you can. That way, things will be easier done. Your modernized speech proved that, didn't it?"

Luna sighed dejectedly, "Yes, Tia."

Celestia giggled as she ruffled up her sister's mane with one hoof, "Aw, Lulu, don't be so down. Why don't you go out with the Mane Six today? Maybe they need your help."

Her sister swatted her hoof away in annoyance and brightened up, "You are right, perhaps they do. I shall also go check on the situation in Ponyville while I am at it."

"That'd be great," Celestia said, "Now I must get going, I would hate that King Osbria of Zelphor would use my tardiness as an excuse for insulting his _godly_ presence and declare war on us." She laughed dryly at the thought, "He's been itching for one ever since he had conquered the rest of the neighboring empires."

Luna gave a sad smile, "Right. Well, do not worry, you will do well."

* * *

Celestia began a staring contest with the knobs on the mahogany door.

She prepared herself mentally for what laid in wait behind it. There would be a long oval shaped table, the decreasing count ponies representing their kingdoms that had not yet became part of the Zelphor empire, and the always present smirking King Osbria. Celestia was not usually one for violence but she would not turn down an opportunity of kicking aforementioned alicorn in the face. The image made her smile.

"Terra to Aunt Celestia!"

"Huh?" The princess looked to her right and there stood her neice, her nephew-in-law, and her faithful student all looking weirdly at her.

Princess Cadance rose an eyebrow, "You alright? You've been glaring at the door for a while and then suddenly smiled."

She coughed a little to get rid of the smile casually, "It's nothing, I'm fine. Let's go in."

"We're not waiting for Prince Blueblood?" Twilight asked.

Candance shook her head, "He came once, deemed it boring, and never came back again. So yeah, we're not going to wait for him."

Twilight blinked and then shrugged. Typical of the snooty prince.

Following Celestia's lead, they went in… and were met with a loud pig snort.

"Look who it is," owner of pig snort taunted, "The princesses of goosebumps!" Osbria threw his hind legs onto the table heavily while purposely flaunting his Cutie Mark in a shape of a bright crown over a map and crossed his forelegs across his chest, "Seriously, Cel…whatever-your-name-is…, can't you give cooler titles? I mean, The Princess of Friendship, the Princess of Love… YUCK! Are ya not embarrassed?!"

Prince Shining Armor trotted toward Osbria but was pulled back by his tail by Twilight who shook her head quietly. The unicorn looked unsurely at his wife who also gave a small shake of her head. Reluctantly he stayed but still shot a warning glare at the smirking king. Unfortunately, it only made the smirk grow in size.

Meanwhile, Princess Celestia completely ignored Osbria's insults as she had in the Treaty Committees before and only bothered to reply to the question if only for the sake of not giving the bloodthirsty alicorn any idea of an excuse, "No, we are proud of who we are and the destinies that are given to us."

He doubled up in laughter, "Oh you must be the most idiotic and halirious pony ever! Only weaklings would be proud of something like that!"

The comment made Twilight, the pony that was previously throwing up in nervousness back at her castle at the thought of messing up in the important meeting, regret stopping her brother from beating a certain somepony to royal pulp earlier. Only the facts that Zelphor was a more powerful empire and Osbria was an alicorn did she not voice her thoughts.

"Where are the others?" Princess Celestia asked, scanning the empty seats.

"They're not coming, pony." Osbria answered nonchantedly as he wiped away a tear from his fit of laughter, "All of them surrendered to me yesterday."

They stared at him. "What?"

King Osbria drank loudly from his glass of cranberry juice, "I _said_ , ponies, that the others surrendered to me. The stupid weaklings thought they could actually overpower me if they were… What did they say? _United together._ Bah! They were fighting each other before they even knew it. All it took was a little stirring up from my new tools and BAM-" he slammed his glass hard on the table causing the princesses to flinch back, "-powerful kingdoms weakened to the state that they couldn't even cough up no to me taking over." He took another swig of the blood red juice and laughed wildly, "Just the thought of their depressed faces makes me happy. Happy, I tell you, HAPPY!"

The others weren't so happy. In fact, they were dumbfounded. SIX kingdoms that had withstanded the imbecile's advances for the past hundreds of years had surrendered? Impossible.

"Where's your proof?" Princess Celestia demanded rather than asked.

"Is that really the way to speak to your soon-to-be king?" Osbria snickered as he levitated a scroll from the side, "Feast your eyes."

The Equestria royalties crowded around the floating scroll and read:

 _We surrender our territories to King Osbria of Zelphor, the Conqueror of Lands._

 _We agree to obey his laws, make no protest, and serve him with all of our puny beings._

 _What is ours is his, what was ours is his._

 _Signed King Osbria of Zelphr_

 _Abiding parties' signatures:_

 _Lord Derick of Geldia_

 _King Salmfur of Terstian_

 _Princess Lidia and Princess Melin of Chinie_

The list went on but they skipped it. It didn't matter. What mattered was the last six and it struck terror deep within them when they saw the scrawled signatures. Celestia, Candance, Shining Armor, and Twilight all stared at each other in horror.

Zelphor was now the strongest kingdom above ground.

King Osbria brought the scroll away from them, silent for once but the smirk playing on his dry lips was loud. "You do know what this means, don't you, Princess Celestia, Princess Candance, Princess Twilight, and Prince Shining Armor?" He said civilly, his beady eyes following the red liquid as he twirled the glass. He looked up at Celestia dead in the eyes.

"You're the last one, pony."

* * *

 **A/N: I am so happy to recieve all of your reviews! It really really means alot and soo fast, too! Woow, amaz~ing!**

 **Annamae Tessaro, t** **hanks so much for liking it! I hope this chapter is up to your expectations. (Crossing my fingers. .)**

 **ST4RSK1MM3R I shall heed your advice! And I'm glad that you find my English above than natural English speakers. OVER THE MOON~~~~! Thank you!**

 **bluecatcinema L-O-V-E your profile pic! I'll make sure to add more silly banters between the two later on.**

 **I am really happy to see your reviews and giving this story your time. GLOMPING TIME! WOOHOO~!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Suspicions**

Luna didn't expect the day to go down like this at all.

She had planned the day by sleeping and, after having her rest, fly on down to meet with the Mane Six and then welcome Celestia back from a no doubt tiresome meeting with a status report on Ponyville ready. _Not_ being scared awake by party cannons and having her room redecorated with colorful confetti and streamers.

Pinkie Pie giggled in her face, "Wakey wakey, Princess Luna!"

"Pinkie! What in the world do you think you are doing?!" Rarity came running in and quickly pulled the hyper pony away from the glaring princess, "Please excuse her, Princess Luna," she laughed sheepishly, "Pinkie had six cakes earlier and the sugar high hadn't died down **just** yet."

Said hyper pony jumped up and down, yelling, "They were D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! That spells delicious! In case you didn't know, that is." A wide grin flashed at the end of the sentence.

The princess's glare deepened. "What are the two of you doing in my room? And what are the _guards_ doing?!"

"You're a heavy sleeper, Luna." An unexpected alicorn's voice replied, "We were going to wait until you woke up yourself but Pinkie Pie used her cannons before we could stop her."

"Celestia?!" She stared at her sister in shock, "Oh no, you are back already? I cannot believe I actually slept this long."

Pinkie piped up, "Well, you're the Princess of the Night and when it's night, it's time to sleep so being the princess of sleeping time, you sleep more than other ponies! Common knowledge really since it makes SO MUCH sense!"

Nervous sweat rolled down Rarity's pure white forehead as she saw the now glowering Luna. "We'll just, um, leave now. Please excuse us, princesses." Hurriedly, she ushered her pink friend out.

"If it'll make you feel any better," Celestia spoke after the doors closed, "The committee today was very short so you didn't oversleep or anything."

"Oh, that is a relief," Luna said and got out of her confetti littered bed, "So how did the Treaty Committee go?"

Celestia turned away and said simply, "Bad."

Needless to say, that raised a great amount of worry in the smaller alicorn and when her sister turned back again with the color on her face as dark as her coat, the amount increased significantly.

Luna waited for Celestia to broach more on the topic and then sighed when she didn't. "Let us join the others then."

* * *

"Aunties!" Princess Cadance cried out as soon as she saw the two contracting colored sisters enter the room.

"Cadance, Shining Armor! How are you all?" Luna asked.

"Could've been better." Shining Armor replied, "The meeting earlier today was bad."

Luna glanced at her sister who took a seat at the circular table, "So I have heard."

Rainbow Dash leaned against one of the chairs and spoke up, "Now that we're all here, can you guys tell us what's going on now? Twilight only said that something terrible had happened but wouldn't say what exactly. By the way, please make it quick. I've got some new tricks I wanna try." Her eyes sparkled, "It'll be AWESOME!"

Celestia gave the athletic pony a smile, "Of course it will. Now about the subject of this meeting, we had learned that Zelpho-"

The princess was interrupted by Pinkie Pie's loud gasp, "WHAT?! Zelphor had the other six previous remaining kingdoms turn on each other by using sneaky sneaky methods and thus causing them to weaken enough for him to take over leaving Equestria as the only one left?!" Pinkie pressed her forehead hard against Fluttershy's who was unfortunately sitting next to her and shook the poor pony's shoulders with each word, "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!"

Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's jaw dropped open as they stared at the Earth pony, "How did she even know?!"

Twilight giggled softly, "Well, Pinkie's always had this kind of a knack for guessing things correct however random they may seem."

"Oh, um… right." Cadance said. Pinkie Pie grinned brightly.

Luna instead jaw dropped at the unbelievable news, and asked, "How could that be? Surely we would have heard at least something about a war going on between SIX kingdoms and not know about it _now_. Much less from King Osbria. Are you guys sure that he was not bluffing?"

Celestia nodded regretfully, "I wish I could say that he was but we all saw the scroll with our own eyes."

Applejack asked, "But what about not knowing about the war? Did King Osbria have something to do with that, too?"

Twilight answered, "He did. I remember reading about a spell in Star Swirl the Bearded's journal about blinding your enemies. The larger the number of enemies, the more power the spell needs so most ponies wouldn't be able to use it but for King Osbria who's an alicorn..."

"It'll be a piece of cake for him!" Pinkie Pie finished brightly.

"But why did he choose to leave Equestria in the dark?" Fluttershy pointed out so quietly that Cadance and Shining Armor who sat the furthest away from her could barely hear, "I-I mean… Isn't conquering all the lands what he wants…?"

"Well…" Luna noticed Twilight stare at her in a squirming way before glancing at Celestia and said quietly, "We don't know."

Luna raised an eyebrow questionably at the ones who were there, "Did Osbria not make any demands?"

They all looked away except for her sister who responded with a too-straight face, "No, he didn't."

" _Really_?"

Celestia looked at her straight in the eye, "Really."

There was a stretch of silence before Luna broke away from the eye contact and sighed again, "Then what shall we do now?"

"You and the Mane Six will go out to Ponyville, Manehattan, and Canterlot here while Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor stay at the Crystal Kingdom to raise ponies' morals." Celestia declared with authority, "I'm sure rumors would be spread somehow and I don't wish for the ponies to start panicking. As for the rest of Equestria, I shall inform the representing leaders. I'll try to think of a plan to avoid unnecessary conflicts with them and perhaps, look for allies if things comes to the worst."

As everypony got up, Luna thought back to the hint of _something_ hiding in her sister's eyes. It was nagging at her and clearly asking wouldn't give her true answers but maybe looking into their dreams will.

"Wait," Luna called out to them before they could leave, "Why not spend the night here tonight?"


End file.
